The Troy-Bilt ® Saturday Six

You may have noticed the Saturday 6 logo in the right sidebar in recent weeks. If you click on it, it will take you to a page that introduces you to the Troy-Bilt® Saturday 6 Team, of which I'm a member. This summer, I'll be doing various activities for Troy-Bilt®, as will the other five members.

Here, I'm testing a reel mower at the Troy-Bilt facility.

I'm honored to be a part of this team, as I've worked with Troy-Bilt® every year since 2007 by testing and reviewing garden equipment, as well as writing articles for their newsletter, The Dirt. Troy-Bilt® is one of those companies that's a pleasure to work with, since they stress that they want honest reviews, good or bad. This is a way to help them to improve their products.

In fact, when several garden bloggers tested a Lithium Ion String Trimmer a couple of years ago and posted our reviews online, we all complained that it was awkward to use and generally uncomfortable. The trimmer worked well, it was just not well-designed from an ergonomic standpoint. Troy-Bilt® took this feedback seriously and went back to the drawing board.

I recently spent two days in Cleveland with the other five Saturday 6 team members (courtesy of Troy-Bilt®), touring their facilities, trying out their garden equipment, and visiting The Chef's Garden and The Culinary Vegetable Institute in Huron, Ohio. One of the products I tried was the new and improved Lithium Ion String Trimmer. What a difference our garden bloggers' evaluations made! It's much better!

These are just a few of the garden tool products The Saturday 6 tried out
recently at the Troy-Bilt® facility in Cleveland.

We'll each be writing for The Dirt (read my article on shade plants in the current issue here), making a couple of how-to videos, testing and reviewing garden equipment in our own gardens (and giving one away to one lucky reader!), and co-hosting a Saturday gardening event with a Troy-Bilt® company rep at a local Lowe's store.

Tomorrow, I'll be at the Findlay (OH) Lowe's store on Bright Road from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m., helping area gardeners with any questions they may have about plants and their own gardens. Scott Jennings will be there too, doing a show and tell of Troy-Bilt® gardening equipment.  I'll do  my best to answer any questions that those who stop by the demo tent might have.

The weather sounds like it will be beautiful, so if you're in the area, stop in and say hi!


WHAT:  Troy-Bilt® Meet and Greet Event
WHEN:  Saturday, May 21, 2011
WHERE:  Findlay Lowe's, 1077 Bright Road, Findlay, OH
TIME:  10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

*I received compensation from Troy-Bilt® for my trip to Cleveland, and the products that I've tested for Troy-Bilt® have been provided to me free of charge. The Saturday 6 partnership that I have with Troy-Bilt® includes monetary compensation. Any opinions expressed by me regarding Troy-Bilt® products or events are my own.